To the relief of train passengers, Railways Ministry has rationalised the flexi fare scheme in premium trains. The scheme has been withdrawn from certain trains, whereas on others it will be available with graded discounts and other changes, Minister of State of Railways Rajen Gohain told Rajya Sabha in a written reply to a question.
"Based on the feedback from different quarters, a committee was constituted to review the flexi fare scheme and based on certain recommendations of the committee, flexi fare scheme in Rajdhani, Shatabdi and Duronto trains has been rationalised," a statement by the Railways Ministry said.
Under the latest changes, flexi fare scheme has been discontinued from 15 trains with average monthly occupancy below 50 per cent for full year. The scheme has been withdrawn from 32 trains with average monthly occupancy between 50-75 per cent during pre-defined lean period during the months of February, March and August.
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Graded discount has been introduced in trains covered by the flexi fare scheme and the Humsafar trains where class-wise occupancy is below 60 per cent four days before their scheduled departure. If the seat occupancy is up to 70 per cent, the passengers can avail a discount of 20 per cent on the last fare. In case the occupancy falls between 70 and 80 per cent, the discount will be 10 per cent. No discount will be given if seat occupancy reaches or crosses 80 per cent.Moreover, the maximum increase in train ticket prices has been capped at 1.4 times across all classes which are affected by the flexi fare scheme in 101 trains.
The passengers journeying the premium trains can avail the benefits of the revised flexi fare scheme from March 15, 2019. The changes were proposed after a review of the scheme in November. Railways has already started booking tickets from November for train journeys in March that will benefit from the revision in flexi fare scheme.
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Floated on September 9, 2016, the flexi flare scheme had originally mandated that the train tickets are sold at normal rates till 10 per cent berths are occupied. After that ticket fares would rise by 10 per cent with every 10 per cent of berths sold with a cap of 1.5 times in second AC, sleeper, reserved second sitting, AC chair car, and 1.4 times in third AC class.
Edited by Vivek Punj
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